My first knitting attempt or last summer project

If you know me personally, you'll know that I get bored of stuff and like to try new stuff all the time. And now that cross stitching, sewing and crochet are mastered to a certain degree, I decided to introduce knitting in my life.

My mom is a fantastic knitter, and I went around in many a sweater or cardigan or even skirt she knitted for me. She also taught me the basic stuff: cast on, straight stitch, purl stitch and how to make a simple braid. But it didn't catch on as a hobby back then. Recently however I felt like it.

I bought some linen yarn on sale from Stoff og Stil, went to verena.ru which is fantastic if you know Russian, loads of free patterns for both knitting and crochet where I looked for an easy pattern and decided on trying this:

The pattern is just straight and purl stitched in a certain formation, so I figured why not? It did go OK more or less, but an advice to beginners, don't start with a project that requires loose knitting (i.e. when you use knitting needles quite a bit bigger than these recommended on the label of your yarn). It's probably a lot smarter to go for something normal, then you at least learn a bit more about your knitting tension and maybe learn to adjust that a bit, etc...

The pattern called for 3 balls of yarn and which is what I bought and I went to work at it until close to the end I started realizing that I won't make it with 3. I'll need a tiny bit more. But this was sale yarn! It's not in the shops anymore! What to do?

I managed to knit the front and back finished, sew together and finish the armholes, but I didn't have enough left for the neckline. I rummaged through my leftovers and found some cotton 8/4 of the exact same color left over from my crocheted bunny which was enough to finish the neckline off.

A few days later I opened my yarn drawer to get something else out and what do I see? A 4th ball of my linen yarn! Doh! 😠 I decided not to redo the neckline though, it looked nice enough as it is. I'll use it for something else later.

How do I feel about this top? I obviously don't think it's the most well made thing, but I still love it! I love the shape, the color and the fact that I managed my first knitting project rather well 😊

Pattern: From Burda Creazion 1/2015
Yarn: Stoff & Stil Lin (100% linen)
Photos taken over Jamaica beach, Sirmione, Italy